Get Involved in Your Neighborhood

Former mayoral candidate and county commissioner Tommy Adkisson explains why plus three neighborhoods that foster community

As Told To Chris Warren

Photo of Main Street in Boerne By Jessica Attie

When I was growing up on Golden Crown Drive in Highland Hills years ago, people didn’t necessarily have dead bolt locks on their doors. And those who did often didn’t lock their doors when they went to sleep at night. It was an innocent time when neighbors spent evenings outside on their porches sharing stories rather than inside air-conditioned houses using their gadgets.

I still live on Golden Crown, two houses down from where I grew up and where my mother still lives, but Highland Hills isn’t quite so idyllic anymore. The neighborhood does pretty well addressing the challenges it faces, though the road to progress is always under construction. A big reason the area fares as well as it does is because 30-plus years ago a group of residents, myself included, organized the Highland Hills Neighborhood Association in an effort to hold onto the idyllic environment many of us had grown up in.

There are more reasons than ever to form or join your neighborhood association. One is enlightened self-interest. While you can take care of what goes on in your house by yourself, you can’t personally control the neighborhood. When you see things going on that you don’t like, whether it’s safety or how your neighborhood looks, the only way you can address those issues long-term is through a neighborhood association that is worthy of its name. The collective impact a group of neighbors who know and genuinely care about each other can have is extraordinary. Nor is it dependent on socioeconomics: neighbors can be indifferent and rich and caring and poor.

Besides the ability to shape where you live, those who roll up their sleeves and get involved will be personally enriched beyond measure. You’ll get to know the people around you and create the kind of community you want to live in. Or as the imitable Benjamin Franklin put it: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

3 communities that foster neighborly connections

Alamo Heights/Terrell Hills

The cultural institutions in this community bring neighbors together. A trifecta of artistic, musical and culinary temptations awakens them from the slumbers of summer. Kids plant vegetables while adults paint watercolors at the San Antonio Botanical Garden and others attend the Summer Jazz Concert & Lunch Series at the McNay. August marks the 20th anniversary of Central Market’s Hatch Chile Event, Aug. 5-18, with music and locally prepared hatch foods.

Southtown

Through the Lavaca Neighborhood Association, residents old and new to communities around Southtown meet and mingle over a weekly happy hour. Sports and outdoors enthusiasts have bonded as part of the Southtown Deflatables, the reigning champions from the Downtown Kickball League, which plays at the newly renovated Labor Street Park.

Boerne

With its small town charm, it’s no surprise that Boerne’s social scene exudes simple, old school satisfaction. Families will say goodbye to summer and catch a movie in the park (August 21: Guardians of the Galaxy) or listen to the Boerne Village Band on the Main Plaza (August 4.) With over 300 families last year, the annual Family Campout (October 17-18) at Boerne City Lake Park is one of the community’s hottest events of the year. —Sallie Lewis